*Note I had a bunch of media inserted but for whatever reason they did not appear, while I try to figure that out i provided links to videos instead*
Introduction
When people talk about the future of Gaming, they usually think about the evolution and adoption of new technologies. From 3D TVs to the emerging virtual reality headset industry - there are many many avenues that should help our beloved medium progress into the future. While these innovations are INCREDIBLY important and deserve the attention they are receiving, and I will be going over them eventually... I think it is perhaps even more important to promote the evolution of the GAMES themselves.
So out of curiosity, and perhaps dreadfully, I have given myself the task of researching and pinpointing just what developers - both well known and obscure - have in store for for us in the future. (Hi future me! I hope you arent facepalming right now)
As it turns out, there are a LOT of things developers are doing to keep us interested in the medium we love. In fact, there are innovations for even the most obscure of genres that will thrill, and undoubtably invite hate, from fans of each. With that being known, i've decided to make seperate topics for as many of them as I can over the next few weeks to give each their fair share of attention to highlight the game or games that best emphasize to future of each.
I couldnt think of any better Genre to start with the The MMO! I hope you enjoy!
The MMO: What Is It?
One of the harder things to do in todays industry is defining what games belong to what Genres. ESPECIALLY when considering RPGs, and MMOs. I mean, what exactly constitutes calling something an MMO? it seems like a simple question and is one that we answer instinctively in our heads. However, it seems to be very difficult to define in actuality.
It used to be very easy. An MMO was an Online game with many players that could interact with each other. Eventually however, that definition had to be altered due to the widespread implementation of Online Gaming to virtually every genre out there. So we started defining MMOs as...
"Online games with STATIC WORLDS inhabited by many people." Static Online Worlds are basically worlds that allow free exploration of the games world for all players at all time (baring progression).
That definition stuck for awhile, but no longer works. The vast majority of modern MMO players spend most of their MMO gaming time with small groups of players in Non-Static Instanced Zones. Instance Zones are player/group exclusive areas created on the fly and instantly to suit the player or groups needs for story and/or gameplay progression without outside player interference. For example, lets look at Final Fantasy XIV...90% of time spent in that game is spent inside instanced zones with small select groups of players. So can it still be considered an MMO in the traditional sense? How does that make it any different from a Call of Duty game?
Most modern MMOs are like this... Its a bit of a weird phenomena. As gamers we instictively know what games are MMOs and which are not... The EverQuest games and World of Warcrafts of the world are no brainers - but its quite hard to prove that Call of Dutys, Battlefields, and even Dark Souls are not. But just for our sake, im just going to use that natural knowledge of what an MMO is!
The MMO: The Future
When researching which games that best emphasized the future evolution of The MMO, I descovered that there were only two real innovators and WOW! What innovators they are!
I havent been excited about an MMO in a VERY VERY long time but boy...im telling you, I am stupidly excited about EverQuest Next and No Mans Sky! I would give an eye and a few legs to play either right now...I need my arms to play afterall.
EverQuest Next: The Traditional Future
Lets be honest here, when people think of MMOs the majority of them think of games like World of Warcraft and the EverQuest series - and for good reason. These games laid the entire foundation of what we now define as the MMO genre. While the importance of WoW is obvious to any gamer - the importance of the original EverQuest simply cannot be overstated. While it was not the first ever MMO in history when it released in March of 1999, it was the first major hit and laid the foundation that every MMO still stands on to this day. It seems only natural that the first Next Gen MMO, the one to rebuild and improve the overused and decaying foundation - would be the third primary installment of this legendary franchise.
But what makes EQN so much better and so much different from the current copy/paste honey hive of fantasy MMOs out there? Well, the answer to that lies in what Sony Online Entertainment (SoE) is calling the 4 Holy Grails. I would like to go over every one of these grails, but that would be a LOT of reading (and I might be lazy lol) BUT! I will go over the one that I believe to be a complete game changer. I WILL Embed videos that describe the other three grails.
The First Holy Grail of EverQuest Next: Emergent AI
This is the single biggest game changer that there has been since the dawn of the MMO... If you have ever played any MMO ever, you know exactly how the AI gameplay works. Goblins spawn at Campsite A. Skeletons at Tunnel B...and its the same every time you go back - excluding changes via in game events and specific patches. This is how it has always been. Until now.
In EverQuest next, EVERY SINGLE NPC AI has been programmed with their own unique likes and dislikes based on a number of variables and are fitted with "Tags" that react to those preferences in a variety of ways.
In a simple example given by SoE, lets say you have an Orc. Orcs Like Gold and they like ambushing travelers to obtain that gold and other goods. They Dislike cities and well traveled and/or guarded stretches of roads. So lets say there is a group of Orcs that have set up camp near a less traveled road and have been ambushing travelers with success. They like this and their population grows. But lets say that that road suddenly becomes well traveled by players - or an ambush fails leading to a defeat or city guards being alterted to the Orcs presence...they dont like this and will uproot camp and send out scouts to find a different area of the world that has TAGS that better suits their needs. They will migrate to this area in real time. Or perhaps they will join other Orc forces in another area out of anger and form an army to raid a city or town and take it for themselves...unscripted, in real time.
Its REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to overestimate just how important this grail is, its a massive game changer and I think the most imporant innovation for the genre in a very long time.
EverQuest Next: The Other Three Grails
No Mans Sky: A New Kind of MMO
My inclusion of No Mans Sky to this list of future innovators of the MMO genre..may be a bit of a head scratcher, especially after my earlier rant about the changing definition of what makes an MMO an MMO. And I agree! But after looking at the game for a while...I couldnt find any reason to say No Mans Sky was not an MMO in any definition of the genre. Its an online game that essentially possesses an endless universe, populated by an unlimited number of players. Its been said that seeing other payers can be rare since you are spawned randomly around a freaking galaxy, but its also been said that you can meet up with any number of players through coordination. I couldnt think of a genre that better suited No Mans Sky so...here it is!
So outside the genre, what exactly is No Mans Sky? Well uhh...thats...thats a very good question!
The best way I can think to describe No Mans Sky, is that its an infinitely Massive Sandbox game where every grain of sand is a freaking Solar System that you can do whatever you want with. So heres the interesting thing about this game...you know nothing about anything when you start.
No seriously, you dont even know what your character looks like at all. The entire premise of the game is you wake up on your own randomly generated planet somewhere in the Galaxy with no memories or ideas about anything. Even your character is randomly freaking generated. So just like life you have nooooo control over your genetics and have no idea what you look like until someone tells you or you see a reflection...there is no Third Person Camera.
EVERYTHING is randomly generated! Billions of unique spaceships. Billions of unique animal and floral species scattered throughout the Galaxy. Billions of unique Planets...everything! I find this concept fascinating in so many ways. It encourages role-playing, adds an immense air of mystery and psycologically draws in the player in.
Where EverQuest Next is the evolution of traditional MMOs...No Mans Sky is the bud that seeds a new branch.
Conclusion
I truly wish I could go more in depth with these games but this post is already massive as is, and true to the genre they belong to - there is just an obscene amount of features that these games possess and that would be rediculous to cover!
So what do you think? What games speak to you as being the future of the MMO?
HELP ME OUT! What are your favorite gaming genres? What games promise to possess features to push the genre forward?
I hope you enjoyed reading! My appologies for any grammar issues ahead of time :)
...uhh...ill just put my favorite quote of all time here.
"Welcome to Pain, the second of three...You have dealt the first...now deal with me!!"
